CONTACT
other sections or all by itself - there is no other ensemble where this instrument holds such a prominent and pivotal role. This part is doubled with one of the players being designated as the Solo Euphonium. They sit to the immediate right of the conductor, closest to the audience.
it's name from the Greek work "eu-phonious" meaning "beautiful sound". It is the top voice of the bass section, and next to the solo cornet, it is the most prominent solo in-strument in the band. It frequently plays the melody line in unison with
BASSES (tubas)
ABOUT
- Instrumentation
BASSES
The B-flat Bass is the lowest pitched instrument in the band and is four times as long as the B-flat Cornet for a total of 208 inches. Two of these mas-sive horns work to-gether with the E-flat Basses to pro-vide the heavy artil-lery that supports the entire brass band team. It takes
the B-flat Basses. They normally play the more technically demanding parts in the bass section to include solos as needed. The Basses sit in the center of the band behind the Tenor Horns with the E-flat Basses on the right side of the section. These four instruments prodvide a visual and harmonic wall of sound support.
The E-flat Bass is slightly shorter than its big brother the B-flat Bass and is 153 inches long - twice the length of the Tenor Horn and four times as long as the Soprano Cornet. There are usually two of these in the band and they play in unison, octaves and harmony with
four times the volume of air to play a note on this horn as compared to the cornet - but the air pressure is also four times less. The B-flat Bass is not quite as agile as the smaller E-flat, but it is the final word on providing horsepower for the low notes. When all four basses are firing together at maximum strength they shake the ground!
The Euphonium gets